WWE Rebellion Era
by notsethrollins
Summary: When the superteam of WWHC Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins form, they quickly dominate the WWE, causing a dramatic shift in the promotion. With The Authority forced to turn face against the tyrannical threat and unaligned factions forming by the likes of Cesaro and Sasha Banks, WWE enters a fresh new era where titleshots are anyone's game, if superstars have the desire to pursue them.
1. Foreword & Roster

_Hi there! Thanks for stopping by!_

 _I wanted to add a little foreword about this project. I think we all feel a little frustrated at WWE's antiquated booking sometimes. The Universe is a lot more clued in than the execs give us credit for and it's easy to tell who the big boss has a direct hand in pushing. I don't doubt it's one of the most difficult jobs in the world, successfully booking dozens of superstars into interesting shows each week when the the threat of controversy and injury looms where the storylines need to be changed at the drop of a hat._

 _Still, the approach lacks a fresh set of eyes and is why NXT is jumping leaps and bounds ahead of the Main Roster in terms of interesting plotlines. The Rebellion Era was a challenge for myself to see if I could book every wrestler on the Main Roster into meaningful, intertwining storylines._

 _I'm relatively new to wrestling (I started watching regularly in January 2015) so I'd like to apologise in advance for botching any of the character's personalities or former storylines. I also encourage discussion, I love hearing other people's ideas that might inspire routes I could take with the Rebellion Era. It's incredibly interesting to see others' take on their favourite superstars._

 _This project originally began as a stream of consciousness theories on tumblr which received some praise, motivating me to continue with the storyline before making it it's own thing. For this reason, the format of the way the fanbooking is told may vary from chapter to chapter. I do not take full credit for it, I have been lucky enough to get a lot of feedback from my mutuals and if anything, this project has become more of a collaboration._

 _As this was started on the 20th of October and the landscape of the WWE changes so rapidly, my roster won't include things like certain superstars' injuries or breaks for filming. For wrestlers like the Usos and Alberto returning, they will be worked into the storyline at a later date to keep up with the roster in that respect._

 _So, without further blabber, enjoy the WWE Rebellion Era!_

 **WWE REBELLION ERA ROSTER**

 **The Resistance (Babyface)  
** **Joint Leaders:** Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose ( _USC holder_ )  
 **Founders:** The Neo Authority (Triple H (temporarily weakened), Stephanie McMahon, Kane)  
 **Tag Teams:** The Dudley Boyz (mentors, peacemakers), Lucha Dragons (Resistance supporter)  
John Cena (acting chief operating officer)  
Zack Ryder (Cena's right hand man)  
Neville (do-gooder)  
Dolph Ziggler (temporarily allied with Neville)  
Ryback (spokesperson)  
The Undertaker (HHH sold his soul to Undertaker to have the Dead Man ally with the Resistance)

 **Legion of Ruination (Heel)  
** **Leader:** Kevin Owens ( _WWHC holder_ )  
 **2IC:** Seth Rollins  
 **Tag Teams:** The New Day (LoR supporter, on mission for the championship), Los Matadores (Authority anarchists)  
Rusev (IC holder, allied with KO out of pure respect)  
King Barrett (literal King of the Ring, has used status to claim the WWE as property from the Authority on behalf of the Legion)  
Adam Rose (bitter anarchist)  
Fandango (possible betrayal storyline with Sandow/Axel/Slater)  
Sheamus (friend of Rusev and Barrett, has a taste for destruction)  
The Miz (director/producer/DP/lead actor of propaganda for the Leigon)  
Bo Dallas (recruited by KO, co-star to The Miz)

 **The Free Agents of Cesaro (Neutral-Babyface)  
** **Leader:** Cesaro  
 **Inner Circle:** Damien Sandow, Curtis Axel, Heath Slater  
 **Tag Team:** Primetime Players (TTC holder, personal grudge against New Day)  
R-Truth (mentor and coordinator)  
Randy Orton (personal grudge against The Neo Authority)  
Jack Swagger (recruited by Inner Circle)  
Tyler Breeze (personal grudge against Dolph Ziggler)  
Mark Henry (recruited by R-Truth)

 **United Womens Alliance (Babyface)  
** ( _Vacant - UWA Championship_ )  
 **Co-ordinator:** Sasha Banks  
 **Board Members:** Natalya, Charlotte, Tamina, Becky Lynch  
 **Representing Tag Team:** Alicia Fox and Brie Bella  
Nikki Bella  
Naomi  
Paige

 **No Alliance (True Neutral)  
** The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Braun Strowman, Erick Rowan)  
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman (occasional ambushers)  
Stardust (unhinged loony)  
The Ascension (allied with Stardust)


	2. The Fall of Rollins and Rise of Owens

It's inevitable that Seth will lose his Championship eventually and despite who takes it off him (with the exception of Kane), the Authority betrays him. Stephanie reminds Hunter that the original plan was for Seth to keep the belt in the Authority. There is no longer a use for him. Hunter takes pity on Seth, giving him a few chances to win back the belt but to no avail. There's nothing more they feel can do but move on and Hunter regretfully abandons his once prodigy.

Wracked with paranoia, loneliness and a serious chip on his shoulder, Seth strikes out on his own to prove to The Authority and all of the WWE that he is the man, just like he has said over and over. Things don't go according to plan and he loses his edge, unable to shake a losing streak. Strangely, Kevin Owens reaches out to him with an offer of alliance but Seth bitterly refuses, feeling as if it was a patronising gesture.

Defeat after defeat, Seth starts to descend into an inferiority complex and his matches become sloppy. An example of this is Seth begging Roman Reigns for a match and Reigns agrees. During the match it seems like Seth isn't even trying anymore and Reigns walks out of the match before it is even finished, disappointed in his former Shield brother and feeling that his time was wasted.

Meanwhile, Owens has taken advantage of the internal turmoil by working his way to the top of the card as a lone assassin. He eventually captures the WWHC from a babyface and promises to the WWE Universe that he will single-handedly usher in a new era of the WWE, personally calling out The Authority.

Owens approaches Seth a second time, who has been reduced to a pathetic shell of who he once was. Owens uses the title as bait to get Seth to ally with him. Although the former Champion knows he could not possibly win it back, even being near the belt is a drug too sweet for him to refuse. Using the Championship as leverage, Seth is easily manipulated into doing whatever Owens wants and despite this Owens chooses to nurture Seth back to a semi-former state of mind.

Like a miracle was worked on Seth, he starts winning matches again. With every victory, his confidence comes back. Old moves that he seemed to have forgotten in his slump are reintroduced, he even has new moves that are clearly from Owens' influence. Suddenly Seth is a threat again as his confidence exponentially grows and The Authority sends out anyone they can to keep him down but with the help of Owens, they beat every opponent back.

Owens and Seth become a superforce. It's impossible to fight one without watching your back for the other. Seeds of anarchy and doubt are planted backstage while they clean house in the ring. When they're together, they're unstoppable, especially after they introduce their double team finisher, Owen's Pop-up Powerbomb followed by Rollins' Phoenix Splash.

Suddenly, a paradigm shift takes place when The Authority find themselves locked out of an arena at Raw. The show is total anarchy with the usual format completely abandoned. Random wrestlers are on commentary, there are multiple fights happening at one time which the cameramen have no idea what to focus on, sometimes the show cuts to an interview segment and there's no one there, just shouting and yelling in the background. Cena tries to make sense of the situation, letting in The Authority but getting beaten in a brutal five on one boiler room match. The episode ends with The Authority at the top of the ramp and Seth and Owens stand in the ring, "This is my WWE now," Owens says, gesturing to every wrestler in the promotion is scattered around the stage, ramp and ringside, "Who is going to stop us?" There is a long pause before all the wrestlers start beating on each other again in complete and total anarchy.

The Authority have no choice but to make a face turn, rallying any righteous wrestlers they can find to attempt a coup on the KO superteam.


	3. Birth of The Free Agents

While Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins are steamrolling through the entire roster with no signs of stopping, The Authority swallow their pride and call an assembly with the entire company. They give every Superstar and Diva an ultimatum: 'You're either with us against Rollins and Kevin Owens or you're against us'. This wipes the creative landscape clean. There are face turns for those who find it in their best interest to fight Rollins and Owens and there are heel turns who have felt previously wronged by the now good guy Authority, aptly named 'The Neo Authority'.

The Neo Authority campaigns to Roman and Dean directly. They believe Seth was the weak link in the Shield, therefore he will be the weak link in the alliance with Owens too and no one knows him better than his former brothers. Dean is hesitant but the Neo Authority promise to take no lead in their new alliance, that Roman and Dean will have complete control of the the company proceedings- or what little The Neo Authority have left of it. They're that desperate.

While sides are being chosen, Cesaro feels stuck between worlds. There's no way he's siding with Rollins and Owens but he also doesn't feel comfortable allying with anyone in such close proximity to this "new Authority". Cesaro catches Damien Sandow, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater speaking to Kevin Owens asking about possibly joining Owens' side in hopes to crush The Authority for overlooking their careers. Cesaro interrupts, imploring to the three boys that joining Owens is a seriously bad idea. Owens takes offence to this, asking Cesaro not to interfere with his conversations. Cesaro and Owens have a standoff before agreeing to a match in the hopes that the stronger man will sway Sandow, Axel and Slater's minds.

The match is booked for the main event of the next Raw. Owens starts things off extremely cocky and Cesaro uses that arrogance to get the upperhand. The Swiss Superman constantly calls out to Sandow, Axel and Slater during the match, promising to give them the launching pad of their careers that they deserve. Owens brutally retaliates, yelling that the world doesn't work that way and only the most powerful men come out on top.

Rollins' music hits and he comes bolting down the ramp WM31 style to aid his comrade like what has been seen for the past few months during their meteoric rise as a team. In the interest of a clean fight, Sandow, Axel and Slater run from their seats at ringside to try and stop Rollins. Like an unhinged beast, Rollins overwhelms all three of them quite easily before skirting around to roll inside the ring while the ref is distracted by the commotion outside. The devastating Powerbomb Splash squashes Cesaro and Rollins slides out of the ring before the ref turns back around. Owens wins with a three count pinfall.

Cesaro lays in the ring hopelessly, staring up into the lights of the arena, already mourning his lost opportunity. Owens finds a mic, announcing to the WWE Universe that Sandow, Axel and Slater are now his. The three enter the ring and Sandow rips the mic from Owens' hands. "We are not yours. We are not property to be won by a wrestling match. We choose Cesaro."

Owens shakes his head in disgust, yelling in their faces that they'll regret it. They had the opportunity to be aligned with the most dominant force in the WWE and they wasted it. They must be stupid. "You stole my boys away from me, Cesaro," he shrieks at the man on the ground.

Cesaro gets to his feet, panting but leans down to where Sandow is holding his mic, "They're my boys."

And so begins a new era in the WWE. A rebellion era.

The Leigon of Ruination lead by Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins.

The Resistance lead by Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and their beneficiary, The Neo Authority.

And finally, The Free Agents of Cesaro.


	4. The Neo Authority's Sacrifice

Let's take the time to focus back on The Resistance, specifically Hunter's tricky position in this new Rebellion Era. He was married into the Authority and built it to be what was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress to hold the WWHC. While he was looking to the sky, he forgot to look at the ground, distracted by Seth's title reign, not realising termites were eating away at his stone foundations. With a tap on the right spot by Kevin Owens, the castle came crashing down beyond repair.

Among the wreckage Barrett cashes in his status and claims the ruined Kingdom while making a business agreement with Owens. The Leigon may be living in tents and not in luxury but at least they have walls to protect them.

The Authority has to swallow their pride and beg on their hands and knees to Roman and Dean to ally with them. They realise how impoverished the world is outside their kingdom and get a bitter taste of reality.

The scramble for allies begins. There are a few no-brainers - Cena, Neville, Ryback and the Dudleyz but other than that, minds are not easily swayed in their favour and they no longer have anything to bribe people with. Even worse is when Cesaro creates his own faction and it seems like people are stampeding over each other to be part of his "cool" alliance. Cesaro, though? The Authority thought he wasn't even a likeable figure. It's a stark reality how out of touch they've been for years.

What can Hunter do? He has to protect Steph and Kane, literally the only two people left in his life he can trust. He needs to put food on the table for his family and today he barely has $40 to his name.

Hunter comes up with a plan to ambush the Wyatt's with Kane, Roman and Dean (who also have personal scores to settle with them) to interrogate Bray about how he summoned the Undertaker for WM31. After a few failed attempts they manage to catch Bray and secure the method to have an audience with the Dead Man.

They successfully complete the summoning and an extremely tense meeting ensues. Hunter sits across from The Undertaker in the middle of the ring. Steph, Roman and Dean stand in the corner, watching on silently. Kane on guard stands at the end of the ramp.

Hunter begins to speak with a lot of uncertainty in his voice, the strong, confident Chief of Operations no longer exists. "Spit it out," The Undertaker growls. Hunter presents his case. They need The Undertaker, once they get back their kingdom, he can have whatever he wants.

"What if.. you could give me what I want right now?"

Hunter looks surprised, "Whatever it is you want, I'll–"

"Your soul." Silence. "I will own you."

When Steph realises Hunter is actually considering it she breaks from formation, "No! You're not leaving me, we can find a better way."

Triple H holds up his hand, "Undertaker. When we win, you let me go. But you will do absolutely everything in your power to help us win."

The Undertaker doesn't blink for a long moment. "Fine."

It's a risk. The Undertaker could be lying but what can a ruined former King do to save his family in comparison to an undead, magic-wielding wizard? Hunter stands and puts his hands on Steph's shoulders, "Do you trust me?"

"Not on this," she shakes her head in denial, distraught, "Who cares about the Authority? It's nothing without you."

"We need to do this for your father, Steph," Hunter insists, "And I will give you no less than a King."

Stephanie cries, giving in as Hunter bends down to press a tender kiss to her lips. The last for a while.

Hunter gives a wordless look to Dean and Roman. 'I'm trusting you,' his eyes say. The Game turns to The Undertaker and shakes his hand, "Deal. Until we own everything again, I'm yours."

A crazed laugh gurgles from The Undertaker's throat as he holds his hands up. Lights in the stadium cutting out. A huge lightening bolt strikes the center of the ring before pyro blasts out from the turnbuckles. The lights slowly return, however dimmed, and Hunter is standing in the ring with only The Undertaker, head lolling as he weakly sways from side to side. As The Undertaker moves his arms, so does Hunter, like a puppet.

"NO," Steph screams from ringside, "DON'T YOU DARE HURT HIM." Dean and Roman having to hold her back while staring up to the ring with feared expressions.

Hunter is released back to his wife, where the brawny man rolls out of the ring and collapses into her arms.

The Dead Man rolls out on the other side, slowly walking towards the ramp. "Hello brother," he says to the Demon (who frankly looks spooked), an amused grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The episode ends with a shot of Steph crying with Hunter in her arms, Dean and Roman standing protectively over them, breathing heavily and staring out as The Undertaker makes his exit.


	5. The Inner Circle's Redemption Part 1

After being recruited by Cesaro, there's a small window where the Free Agents are just a group of four. Cesaro sits Sandow, Slater and Axel down and explains that they are now his Inner Circle of companions, friends and advisors. They, as a faction, are free to choose their own path as long as they look after each other free from jealousy and bitterness. The chance to side with Cesaro is a chance for a clean slate and he implores they leave any transgressions they had about each other aside.

That being said, Cesaro asks "If there was anyone you could fight and crush right now, who would it be? No matter how badly in your favour it is."

Axel chooses Erick Rowan for ambushing him at the Royal Rumble before his career took a serious nosedive. Slater names Titus O'Neil for abandoning him when he needed a friend most. By no means easy opponents.

Sandow states at the ground, brow knotted, at war with himself. "Cena," he says finally. There needs no explanation, Cena wasted Sandow's chance at the Championship with his Money in the Bank cash in.

Cesaro puts a hand on each of his Inner Circle's shoulders, "Then the first thing we're going to do as the is get some revenge."

The Inner Circle is uncertain. It might as well be an impossible task but Cesaro seems confident and promises to nurture his boys until they are ready.

They come up with a plan of action. While The Legion are revelling in their success and The Resistance is scrambling to find their feet- it's a perfect time to strike. They map out the easiest target to the most difficult and decide Titus O'Neil goes first before Erick Rowan and finally John Cena. Cena will be the trickiest opponent so it's best to put their efforts into the first two.

Cesaro and Slater form a tag team and begin practicing teamwork while Axel and Sandow are tasked with gathering information about the enigmatic Wyatts. Sandow points out The Neo Authority was suddenly after them and that wouldn't happen without reason so the best thing to do was break into The Resistance's base and search for clues.

After Axel and Sandow break into The Resistance's base of operations they're intercepted by Zack Ryder, who seems surprised they're there. He asks who they're looking for and Axel chokes up before Sandow steps in, calmly explaining they're here for an appointment with The Neo Authority. Ryder asks whether they've changed their minds about Cesaro and Sandow agrees, saying that The Resistance is definitely the better faction to ally with. Ryder smiles, saying The Neo Authority is out at the moment but they should be back soon and they can wait in their office for the time being.

Axel and Sandow enter the office, Axel saying that felt a little too easy. Sandow says Ryder is a good guy after all and they begin to rifle through the unattended office until they find notes to summon the Undertaker with Bray's tactics from WM31. "Holy shit, they're trying to get the Undertaker to ally with them," Axel says, showing Sandow.

"That means we may be able to catch Rowan unattended while The Neo Authority are distracting Bray," Sandow speculates before finding a map, deducing the pattern of Wyatt sightings. "This will help," he smiles before there's a knock at the door and they quickly stuff the stolen notes in their ring gear.

Cena walks in and Sandow's face clenches. "Sorry boys," he apologises, "Heard you were looking for the big bosses but they're not going to be back for a long while, is there anything I can help you with?"

Axel looks to Sandow, who is completely frozen with rage, before stuttering and blurting out, "W-We want a match with with the Primetime Players." His partner is crime glares at him as if to say 'that wasn't part of the plan'.

Cena rubs the back of his head, "That's gonna be tough but I'll see what I can do. How's this sound: I pull some strings to get you an audience with the Primetime Players and in return you both join The Resistance."

Before Axel can say anything, Sandow agrees. The match is set for the Main Event of that night and Cena agrees for the two boys to return to the Free Agents to pack up their things and return back for the match. They nod, quickly running out of the office and down the hallway laughing and saying how they coundn't believe how well that went.

Axel and Sandow return to Cesaro and Slater and fill them in on the turn on events. Cesaro says they might not be ready but getting on the Primetime Players radar is better than nothing. They decide that Axel and Sandow will wait in the ring first, then after the Primetime Players come down and before the bell rings, they'll grab a mic and explain that they're not there for the challenge. Cesaro and Slater will then come down the ramp and take their place instead.

So the Main Event finally rolls around, Axel and Sandow are in the ring, looking confident. There is a long pause before Cena's music hits and the grins are wiped from their faces. Cena walks out with Zack Ryder and cuts a deadly promo explaining that Ryder is his personal assistant who knew that they were snooping around with malicious intent and that The Resistance doesn't appreciate rats. CCTV footage is shown of Axel and Sandow rifling through The Neo Authority's office to cement their guilt.

Cena and Ryder enter the ring and yell that the bell is rung. With the rug pulled out from underneath them, Axel and Sandow get destroyed by Cena and Ryder in a brutal one-sided fight. After Sandow takes an attitude adjustment, Cesaro's theme hits and he runs out with Slater, yelling for Cena to stop. Cena smiles smugly to the leader of the Free Agents while standing over a beaten Sandow before dropping onto him for the pin. Cesaro and Slater book it to the ring but don't make it in time before the three-count secures Cena's win.

Cesaro and Axel drag their allys from the ring to the bottom of the ramp where they slowly back up, shocked and tired. Ryder grabs a mic and cuts a promo about how The Free Agents should not meddle with The Resistance trying to restore order to the WWE while Cena enthusiastically backs him up. Cesaro retrieves his mic, warning the men in the ring not to underestimate the Free Agents. Cena takes the mic from Ryder, imploring them to prove it before Cesaro and his Inner Circle retreat backstage.


	6. The Inner Circle's Redemption Part 2

Cesaro and his Inner Circle regroup backstage but Slater, Axel and Sandow's morale has taken a serious blow. Cesaro attempts to calm his troops, explains that these kind of revenge plots don't happen overnight and if not for Zack Ryder then they wouldn't have found themselves in such a position.

Slater and Axel start talking over each other frantically before Cesaro notices Sandow is physically shaking, staring at the ground, looking as if to have a mental breakdown. Cesaro grabs Sandow's upper arms and looks him in the eye, "I can't lose you now Damien, I need you to control that rage, use it to your advantage."

Sandow grits his teeth, blinking back tears of anger, "He… humiliated me. Again."

Cesaro presses his forehead against Sandow's, "I swear to you, Damien. You will get your retribution against Cena. I will not sleep until you do."

Sandow steps back, breathing heavily, unable to understand why Cesaro of all people would be willing to do this for him. "Alright," he agrees quietly, before walking out of the room.

The Free Agents make a change of plans, using the information Sandow and Axel gathered from The Resistance's base to stalk The Neo Authority's ambushes against the Wyatt's. After a few failed attempts, Kane, Roman and Dean manage to rise victoriously in a match against Bray, Strowman and Harper before interrogating Bray for the method to summon the Undertaker. Once The Resistance take their leave, Bray looks around and asks where Rowan is. He immediately comes to the conclusion that The Neo Authority has kidnapped him.

A match with Axel against a surprise opponent is booked for the main event of the next Raw (of which mostly consists of The Wyatts going after anyone allied with The Neo Authority to look for Rowan). When it's time for the main event Axel comes to the ring alone, waiting for his mystery opponent. No theme hits but Cesaro and Sandow appear from backstage escorting a handcuffed, goat-masked Rowan. Slater dances around them, ringing a triangle in place of his theme.

Rowan is thrown in the ring and Axel gets on the mic, explaining that Rowan stole his Royal Rumble opportunity from him, that every action has a reaction, even if it's delayed by a year. Axel removes the handcuffs himself and the bell is rung. Axel and Rowan get into a brutal slugfest. Axel holds the upperhand until the fight spills into ringside and he is put through the announcers table by Rowan. Before the ref can count them out The Wyatts' signature ambush sound effects play and the light go out. When they come back, Cesaro, Sandow and Slater are blocking the Wyatts at the bottom of the ramp who all begin to brawl.

Axel recuperates and drags Rowan back to the ring where the match continues with back and forth attacks, slowly wearing each other out. Finally, Alex hits a one-armed swinging neckbreaker before performing the Perfect-Plex and pins Rowan for a three count victory. Axel kicks a lifeless Rowan out of the ring as the rest of the Free Agents rush to Axel's side, cheering him and celebrating. It is a satisfying first big victory for them.

At this point The Resistance are pissed off that The Free Agents caused them so much injury from the Wyatts over a mistaken kidnapping. Aware of their "revenge plot", they recruit the Primetime Players and lure the Free Agents into a tag team match at the next PPV. With a few weeks to prepare Cesaro and Slater are confident they have enough time to train for a shot at beating the Primetimes.

The PPV rolls around and the second match of the night is the Primetime Players vs the team of Cesaro and Slater. Like any match, with the Primetimes, Cesaro and Slater rotate to slowly wear down Darren Young, keeping him away from possibly tagging Titus O'Neil in. A distraction from The Neo Authority as Kane and Zack Ryder walk out to watch the match leads to a miscommunication between Cesaro and Slater, allowing Darren to tag in Titus. With Slater as the legal man, Titus sends Cesaro to ringside where Kane and Zack Ryder run down start brutally wailing on him. Alone in the ring with a tired Slater, Titus hits Clash of the Titus and pins Slater for a three count.

The Primetime Players don't have much time to celebrate their victory as Titus grabs a mic and demands Kane and Ryder explain what the hell they're doing interrupting the match. Kane explains that Cesaro is being taken in for questioning by The Resistance for the commotion they've caused between them and The Leigon over petty revenge plots.

Titus questions Slater about the mentioned revenge plot, saying how he's confused and that he thought they were friends. Slater says that Titus abandoned him for better friends (gesturing to Darren) after he returned to the WWE and he felt like he was left behind when he needed a friend most. He explains how he's been lost in the WWE ever since, until he joined Cesaro. Titus seems taken aback for a few moments before genuinely apologising, saying he hadn't realised and never intended to hurt Slater.

Ryder interrupts their moment, alerting Slater and the rest of the Free Agents that their faction is as good as dissolved with the removal of Cesaro. Kane drapes the Swiss Superman over his shoulder, walking up the ramp. Ryder warns the Inner Circle not to dare try and avenge Cesaro or it will have dire consequences.

Titus shakes his head in frustration as Darren takes the mic, who accuses The Resistance to be too under The Neo Authority's influence which is causing them to play just as dirty as The Legion. Titus says the Primetime Players are formally resigning their position within The Resistance. He turns to Slater and puts a hand on his former partner's shoulder, "And we'd like to ally with the Free Agents. If you'll take us, friend."

Slater seems surprised at first but grins in relief. He realises that he never wanted revenge on Titus, he only wanted his friend back. Slater agrees, "Yeah.. I'd like that. Right now we need all the help we can get."


	7. The Inner Circle's Redemption Finale

After the third match of the PPV, Axel and Sandow catch up to Slater backstage and are shocked that the Primetime Players are trailing behind. Slater explains what happened during the match and Darren asks the rest of the Inner Circle whether it's okay for them to become Free Agents as well.

"I'm okay with it but.." Axel says, glancing to Slater with a look of bewilderment, "Where's Cesaro?"

Slater's brow knots as he glances to the ground, "Kane and Ryder ambushed him while he was ringside and detained him? On charges that don't even make sense. I didn't even know they could do that."

Darren shakes his head, "Like I said, they're as dirty as The Leigon."

"We're going to get him back right?" Slater asks, a hint of doubt in his voice.

Sandow, who has been silent and brooding suddenly looks up with a smile, placing his hand on Slater's shoulder, "Naturally." He pauses, staring into nothing before continuing, "I'm going to go speak to Kevin Owens."

Axel and Slater group in front of Sandow to block him, "No, no, no, no, Damien, whatever you're planning it doesn't need to involve Owens."

"I'm not going to let The Resistance think they can "detain" Cesaro just like that," Sandow growls, "If you trust me, when the time comes, make sure you keep everyone off my back."

"What are you talkin' about?" Slater exasperates, watching as Sandow walks off, "Sandow? SANDOW? What is he talkin' about, man? Always with the elaborate enigmatic plans."

Axel looks to the Primetime Players, "If things get messy out there, can we count on you?"

"As long as we don't have to deal with any more of The Resistances rules and Cena's lectures, yeah, you can count on us," Titus smiles grimly before looking off in the direction Sandow disappeared.

The main event of the PPV is between Owens and Cena for the WWHC, a culmination of weeks of goading from Owens, mocking his pathetic excuse for a "resistance". A slew of Cena style promos have been slowly getting the audience behind him and he challenges for Owen's to prove that he can hold on to a Championship one on one. No Rollins. No dirty tactics. A pure brawl for the belt, just like old times. Owens finally agrees just to shut Cena up.

It's obvious no one believes Owens is going to play a fair fight. Even if Rollins has his own match earlier in the night, everyone half expects him to pull out some cheap trick, a low blow or distraction to the ref to retain the title, even Cena. So when it comes time for the main event, Cena comes to the ring first, hyping up the crowd but watching his back for one of Owens underhanded tactics.

Cena bounces on the balls of his toes as he waits for Owens' music to hit. There is an uncomfortably long pause and just as Cena is about to reach for Lillian's mic…

"HALLELUUUUUUUUJAH!"

Cena furrows his brow, watching daftly as Damien Sandow walks down the ramp in his blue robe alone and rolls into the ring, standing opposite him with a fuming confidence. Cena takes the mic and holds up his hand, "No, no, no, nononono, no. I don't know what's going on but this isn't your fight. Not tonight, Sandow. Certainly not in the main event of a pay per view."

"I'm afraid.. you wont be facing Kevin Owens tonight. Three years ago, you stole something from me and no matter how much I've tried, I haven't been able to make peace with my own mind. Tonight you stole something else from me. From the Free Agents. Therefore, tonight, Cena, you will face me… for Cesaro's freedom." Sandow throws the mic to one side and shrugs off his robe, casting it away as he charges at Cena.

"Wait, wait, wait," Cena backs up and out of the way, still holding his hand up, "No, I am not playing your games tonight, I came for a specific match and I will–"

"John~ John~ John~" Owens' drawling voice resonates through the arena before he leisurely steps out from backstage, casually swinging the mic from his hand before bringing it up to his lips, "You will… not be fighting me tonight, no John, see Mr. Sandow came to me earlier tonight and put forward a suggestion I simply could not refuse."

Cena is standing in the ring, shaking his head silently at Owens in pure disgust. "You're a bloody coward, Owens."

"See that's where you're wrong, John. It's nothing to do with me being "scared" to fight you, I didn't even want to do this match in the first place. It's quite frankly a waste of my time. But! Mr. Sandow here happily volunteered to take my place and it sounds much more entertaining than what I was going to do to you. I honestly think he's going to kill you!" Owens laughs as Rollins appears from backstage with two chairs, setting them up on the top of the ramp, "So if you don't mind, timekeeper…"

The bell rings and before Cena has a chance to take his shirt off, Sandow kicks a boot to his middle before locking his arm around Cena's neck and violently punching him into the ground. Cena throws Sandow off him, rolling out of the ring to recuperate. Sandow's rage hits critical heights as he stomps around the ring, shaking the ropes and raking his fingers through his hair until he hears Owens and Rollins in fits of laughter from the top of the ramp.

Sandow pauses, seeming to remember Cesaro's words about controlling his anger. Cesaro, the man who seemed to put an abundant amount of pride and trust in him. Cesaro, who blindly believed in what might well have been a man with a hollow existence. Sandow's expression calms as Cena rolls back into the ring and the match continues.

It is a highly entertaining match, a good amount of back and forth, major risks being taken by Sandow who has a commanding presence that hasn't been seen since 2013. As the match wanes on, Sandow's endurance is put on display and kick out after kick out Cena visually seems to tire, the question begs to be asked: could Sandow actually win this?

The Resistance's theme hits and a slew of supporters storm out from backstage, Reigns, Ambrose, Kane, Ryder and Neville. "THAT'S ENOUGH," Triple H roars over a microphone. They glance to Kevin and Seth, who shuffle their chairs out of their way in amusement. As The Resistance begins their descent towards the ring, Slater, Axel and the Primetime Players crawl out from under the ramp and line up to block The Resistance.

Triple H orders Titus O'Neil to step aside and the Free Agents smile, interlocking elbows with each other to create a human shield that is as symbolic as it is literal. The Resistance turns around only to find themselves boxed in by Owens and Rollins. Owens grins maliciously to Triple H before throwing a gesturing nod to the ring, "I want you to watch this Hunter," he smirks, "Because this is what happens when you leave your men behind."

Sandow turns to pull Cena into the turnbuckle, who barely holds himself up from collapsing. Sandow charges with a corner European uppercut before pulling him into the diagonally opposite turnbuckle but is countered by a boot from Cena, causing him to fall back. Cena shakes his head with fuming disappointment, slowly lifting himself up to stand on the top rope.

Sandow recovers and dropkicks Cena's ankle, causing him to lose balance and spead eagle onto the turnbuckle. While incapacitated, Sandow swings him around by his shoulders before dropping an avalanche hangman's neckbreaker. A panting Cena collapses to the mat as Sandow stumbles backwards, leaning into the ropes for support. Sandow watches a bloody Cena slowly pick himself up. With wide eyes, the once Intellectual Savior stares as if he is unable to believe that victory is within his grasp.

At his feet and with blood in his eyes, Cena charges at Sandow, who manouvers around to his back, interlocking arms for the You're Welcome. As Sandow launches him upwards, Cena counters by backflipping over and hitching his arm the other man's side to hoist him up over his shoulders. Sandow clamps his arms around Cena's neck for a sleeper hold and clings on for dear life, now unable to receive an attitude adjustment.

Cena stumbles back, blindly reaching backwards to try and peel the submission off him. Sandow releases the hold and entwines his arms around Cena's elbow and neck, hoisting the bloodied man up and…

The flat of Cena's lifeless back hits the ring mat from a perfect You're Welcome and Sandow collapses on him as the ref counts One.. Two..

THREE.

The ref need to physically help Sandow up to hold up his hand, who looks upwards into the lights to blink away shocked tears. He quickly gestures for a microphone. "Cesaro," he says hoarsely, suddenly realising how many people were there to witness his feat.

Triple H brings his mic to his mouth slowly. "I'm not giving you Cesaro and I'm going to tell you why… First you "Free Agents" sneak into my office, steal my documents, set the Wyatt Family wrongly on a path of destruction in our direction, steal a tag team from under our noses and now.. changing the main event for your own sick, selfish desires. No.. This match was not on the card, therefore the reward does not have to be honoured."

Sandow stares out of the ring, chest slowly rising and falling with laboured breaths. He looks to Kevin Owens who begins to laugh like a hyena.

"Hey, sorry buddy, I let you give me a night off work but I didn't say I was going to help you. I came for an entertaining fight and you sure did deliver so sorry about Cesaro and all. Maybe you'll get 'em next time, eh!" With maniacal laugher, Owens and Rollins turn to slowly walk back up the ramp.

The Resistance's party advances an inch but the four members of the Free Agents bolster themselves up. They're now outnumbered but they wont move.

Sandow stares at Owens before glancing to his hand, up to Triple H and back to his hand. "Well then I'll have to make you give Cesaro back," he pants into the mic before dropping onto his knees over Cena and slugging the unconscious man's face. Over, and over, and over, and over. All the suffering this person's face caused him gave him the last burst of adrenaline to destroy it.

Owens turns back around and gasps in delight, "Holy shit, I think he really is going to kill him!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT," Triple H shouts desperately, "Y-You.. He's yours. Cesaro's yours, just stop. Stop this right now."

Slater and Axel run into the ring, having to peel Sandow off Cena to cease the brutal attack. A commotion is heard from behind the curtains of backstage and Cesaro bursts out, fuming with rage and rubbing his wrists. He shoulders between Owens and Rollins to Triple H, ripping the mic from his hands, "Maybe it is you who should beware of 'dire consequences'," he spits, casting a glance to Zack Ryder.

Cesaro pushes his way through The Resistance to come to a surprised stop in front of the Primetime Players. Titus and Darren smile, stepping aside for their leader. The Swiss Superman climbs into the ring to share the sombre celebration with his Inner Circle. He presses his forehead against Sandow before wrapping his comrade in a proud hug.

"We've made our statement," Owens voice echoes through the tense arena, "These.. Free Agents have made theirs. What now, Resistance?" The mic cuts out as its dropped and the leaders of The Legion walk offstage, pleased grins plastered on their faces.


	8. A Tale of Two Brothers Part 1

We pick our story back up with The Resistance walking sombrely through a hallway after Triple H's sacrifice to The Undertaker. The Dead Man is nowhere to be seen and Hunter's weak body is being supported by Stephanie and Kane. Roman and Dean bring up the behind in silence until Dean holds his friend back, waiting until the rest vanish behind a corner.

Dean shoves Roman inside the nearest room which is dimly lit. The lunatic had been uncharacteristically accepting during the events that transpired with Triple H and The Undertaker. It becomes clear he just didn't want to embarrass Roman in front of others for the verbal beating he was about to take.

Dean goes off at Roman. I mean, he's close to losing it. Why are they doing this? Why are they allied with The Neo Authority in the first place? They should be only relying on each other, not with everyone else dragging them down. He knew this was a bad idea but he trusted Roman's call and he shouldn't have been surprised when things went south.

Roman takes it silently until Dean insults him personally. "I know you don't want to hear this, Dean, but we can't beat Owens and Seth as they are now," he says with a stern calmness about him. Allying with The Neo Authority sucks, yes, but it was always supposed to be a temporary agreement. They still have the same goal.

"Until the Free Agents took it upon themselves to sabotage our plans at every turn," Dean grumbles, "The Legion want to control the WWE. The Neo Authority want to control the WWE. The Agents want The Neo Authority's head on a spike. We have nothing to do with any of this mess. No ones going to bother us if we're not attached to anyone."

"Won't they?" Roman questions.

Dean looks offended before grabbing a trash can and hurling it across the room, where it explodes against the wall, "I HATE THIS."

"I have a plan," Roman promises, "But I need you to put up with some shit a little longer. We control The Neo Authority's influence. We have allies because of them. We coordinate our assets correctly, we will dethrone The Legion."

"What I wouldn't give to break that scumbag son of a bitch Seth's nose inside his skull," Dean growls, pacing and shaking his fist.

Roman slams both hands on Dean's shoulders, "We will… Oh, we will."

So at this point Kevin Owens pretty much controls Raw by coming out on stage each week, cutting a killer promo and pulling names out of a rigged hat for matches. The Leigon has the highest win rate of all the factions by far. Seth Rollins tries to take Smackdown for his own but Cesaro challenges him for it and the Thursday night show becomes a tug of war between the superstars.

The Resistance and The Neo Authority no longer have any jurisdiction anywhere in the WWE. Triple H is weakened, Cena is unable to perform while he recovers from Sandow's brutal attack, they haven't seen The Undertaker since he showed up to steal Hunter's soul. They're often outmatched or outnumbered. They rarely get wins. The only Resistance members doing remotely successfully are The Dudleyz and Dean as he barely holds onto his USC title week after week.

Each week Dean seems more and more frazzled. His hair gets messier, his shirts are torn before he's even stepped into the ring, he looks like he hasn't had a shower or slept in days. Everyone is after his title as taking The Resistance's only Championship from them would be the metaphorical nail in the coffin of their faction. Dean can barely walk down the hallways while he half expects someone from the Leigon or Free Agents to ambush him.

The tipping point is when a certain unaligned space loving loony gets a little jealous after finding post-it notes everywhere he goes with the word 'SHINY' and 'NEVILLE' written on it. Backstage, in his locker, he even pulls one out of his ringgear during a match. Now Stardust loves a good riddle and a good treasure hunt. Furthermore he is quite upset that he has nothing shiny to wear around his waist and taking the US Title while compromising the alliance Neville is part of is clearly what the magical post-its want him to do.

On Smackdown, Dean and Stardust have a match with Roman at ringside and Stardust goes under the ring apron to reveal his trademark bag of stars. Halfway through the match he tosses the bag of glitter and shiny stars all over Dean and grabs the belt while the lunatic's trying to scratch and claw glitter from his eyes. "SHINY! SHINY! I DID WHAT YOU ASKED!" he choruses with a giddy glee. Despite being disqualified, Stardust runs mostly up the ramp before he collapses in delight, clutching his shiny prize.

Roman is immediately in the ring trying to help Dean but the glittering lunatic shrugs him off. Dean only gets just out of the ring to storm up the ramp when Seth Rollins theme hits and the Legion 2IC walks out to Avarda Kedavra superkick Stardust before taking the USC belt. Seth cuts a promo about how weak and deranged Dean is, targeting his mental state with an analysis that sounds like it may have well come straight from Owens' mouth.

Sleep deprived, anxiety-ridden and humiliated, instead of Dean attacking Seth, the lunatic does a 180 and hits a Dirty Deeds on Roman at the bottom of the ramp. Dean stumbles back, a fleeting moment where he's shocked at what he's done. Panicked, he legs it up the ramp and Seth throws the belt aside to lower into a defensive stance. Dean trips over Stardust where Seth hits a brutal Avarda Kedavra to his chin on the way down.

"It's over, Dean," Rollins cackles, standing over the sparkly lunatic while holding up his belt, "You've really lost it this time and I don't just mean your title." The Legion 2IC looks so proud of himself, pulling off a brilliant coup with no help from Owens. He's been taught well.

The Smackdown episode ends with a close up of Dean, truly broken with wide eyes filled with fear and confusion.


	9. A Tale of Two Brothers Part 2

The Raw following the events of the damaging Smackdown to The Resistance, Stephanie storms into their main office- the first time she's been really seen since Hunter sold his soul.

"Where's Dean?" She demands.

Roman is sitting in a plastic chair in front of a simple table, the room is set up to look like an office but it's clear The Resistance lacks the actual assets. It's like they're still trying to tell themselves that everything is okay.

"He's not here," Roman responds, under eyes deeply set, a morose expression as he stares into nothing.

"Well.. Go get him."

"No," Roman grits his teeth, "He's not here, as in, I haven't seen him since Thursday night."

Stephanie goes mental, literally screaming a lecture at Roman's face. The whole point of The Resistance was to snipe Seth Rollins and pull the rug out from under The Legion's feet. The Neo Authority used the last of their resources helping Roman and Dean to only set them back further than they originally were. Now Seth has possession of the United States Championship which will be near impossible to get back and Dean has abandoned them. She keeps driving the point, Roman's plans were terrible, he single handedly destroyed The Resistance, he is a failure.

Roman stands and punches through the table, sending papers flying. He stands over the broken pieces of wood to stare down Stephanie.

"KANE," she shrieks and the corporate Demon enters the room. She points between the two men, "The both of you fix this now or consider your contracts terminated." It's the last threat she possibly has to use as an ultimatum.

Kane and Roman stare at each other, unhappy to be working together but without much choice.

Let's focus on Seth for the time being. He's being praised by Kevin Owens and often comes out to brag about his achievement. Everyone expects Dean to show up and ambush Seth but he hasn't been seen on any WWE shows for three weeks and no one has said anything about his disappearance besides Roman. It's like no one cares.

A week before the next PPV, Owens has one last match to fill and isn't sure what to book. Raw is in Chicago and he comes to the ring to Ambrose chants to announce that he'll be holding a tournament. The prize is for the winner being able to decide who they want to face, for whatever title they want, with a stipulation of their choosing. The Miz has been appointed MC of the tournament and often cuts to his on-site liaison Bo Dallas, who chases down competing superstars for interviews and comments.

The matches are entertaining with some interesting match-ups that wouldn't usually be seen. Roman works his ass off into the final by besting Sheamus and Heath Slater.

The other semi-final match is Randy Orton vs Rusev. Rusev comes out first in his slick black, white and silver gear, proudly waving The Leigon's flag back and forth. Orton's theme hits and…. nothing happens. Rusev looks around, a little annoyed at first but The Miz leans over to whisper something in his ear and the Bulgarian Brute starts laughing.

Orton's theme replays and still nothing. The Miz is calling his name out on the microphone before crossing to Bo Dallas to see if he has any more information. A picture comes up of a shaky cam in the low light of the parking lot. Randy is out cold on the gravel with some familiar laughing behind the camera. It quickly pans to show a paranoid Bo Dallas who's yelping "No! No! Please!" and the camera rams into him before crackling and cutting out.

A moment of The Miz ad libbing on the microphone, trying to calm the audience's ear-splitting Ambrose chants down is interrupted by Dean's theme hitting and the crowd goes nuts and takes the roof off the arena with their cheering. Dean storms down to the ring, looking refreshed with a grin on his face and a fire in his eyes.

Dean punches out The Miz and introduces the match himself before obliterating Rusev who struggles to compensate for the dramatic turn of events. Which means the final for the tournament is Roman vs. Dean.

Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins are guests at the announcers table for the final. They're extremely amused by the developing events between Roman and Dean, aware that The Resistance has been a mess since Dean took off.

Roman tries to talk to Dean after the bell is rung but Dean kicks him in the gut to get the match going. The fight is incredible. There's a bitterness behind Dean's punches and while he gets the upper hand it seems like he genuinely wants to hurt his former brother. Roman realises he needs to stop holding back and finally retaliates properly, trying to match Dean's ferocity.

Suddenly a smile cracks out on Dean's face and for the first time in actual months, he's enjoying himself. The match evolves into one out of respect with each one giving it then all in a true 'who is better once and for all' brawl. Owens makes a noise of disgust. This isn't what he wanted. The crowd is cheering for both teams and Roman and Dean are putting on a nice clean fight with no backstabbing, no underhanded tactics. The tournament was supposed to rip people apart not mend bonds! He says he's had enough, ripping off his headset and feeling his body caught as he tries to move forward.

Owens slowly looks behind him to see that Seth had instinctively grabbed his arm to stop him. Seth's face goes white before stealing his hand back as Kevin glares at him like he just committed treason.

It cuts back to the ring to see Dean police roll away from a spear which sends Roman into the turnbuckle. Roman staggers out and shoves Dean back, who stumbles back between the ropes before swinging out to turn Roman inside out with a clothesline. Dean pins Roman by pulling the Samoan's legs up over his head to which he is unable to kick out of. Winner, Dean stumbles into the ref and his hand is held up as Roman unfolds onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Dean walks over and holds out his hand in a gesture of apology and respect. Roman stares at it for a long time before clasping his hand on Dean's, allowing his friend to help him to his feet…

Before Roman eats a Dirty Deeds.

Owens starts laughing maniacally in delight, clapping Seth on the back as if his 2IC knew that Dean would double cross Roman. Seth let's lit a delayed, nervous chuckle. Y-yeah! Totally knew that was going to happen.

Dean motions for a microphone, only managing to husk out his words through laboured breaths. "SETH ROLLINS," he bellows, "THIS SUNDAY I AM GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE AND TAKE BACK MY UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP.."

He pauses, a a grin between crazed and hungry from ear to ear.

".. in a Chicago Street Fight."


	10. A Tale of Two Brothers Part 3

So a Chicago Street Fight.

Seth is understandably furious. Furthermore, the PPV is in Colombus, Ohio which might as well be Dean's home turf. He's shooting promos in parking lots at night, in dodgy back alleys and in front of barbed wire fences to strike fear in Seth's heart. "It's been a long.. long time coming… I've never liked trusting people, Seth. I don't like when people cheat me. I had a bad feeling about you from the start but I persevered and at some point I stupidly considered you a friend. A brother… I don't forget, Seth, I never forget. Until you're burning in the pits of hell, I won't stop. Then I'll come down there myself and beat your ass another time. I've been waiting for this… When I get my hands on you, you son of a bitch Seth Rollins–" A vague pause to let Seth fill in the blanks as Dean turns away from the camera mumbling and holding up a shaky, eager hand before punching his palm, "–and I'm going to THROW YOU IN THE RIVER."

Everywhere Seth goes he's haunted by Dean's threats. At first he shrugs it off but eventually becomes more and more frightened. Even when he sees water he starts to have the beginnings of a mental breakdown, like Dean could be around any corner about to dunk his head in it.

The PPV rolls around and the main event is booked as Rusev defending his Intercontinental Championship against Bray Wyatt. Seth and Dean's match is second, after a tag team match between The New Day and the Lucha Dragons.

Seth's theme hits first along with the toll of the bell and the announcement of the match. He slowly walks out, checking around the stage before putting on his cocky facade, banging his chest and pausing at the top of the ramp to look around the arena. It's clear he's trying to stall time and before he takes a step to the ramp, Dean appears from the side of the camera and tackles Seth, barraging him with punches.

Seth rolls out of it and starts running in the aisle between the ground seating and the lower levels, continuously throwing his head back. When he thinks he's lost Dean, Seth slows to a stop, still looking around before ducking a punch from the lunatic from the other side. Seth hooks his arms around Dean's neck and twists around for a falling neckbreaker on the concrete.

The Leigon's 2IC gets up and legs it back to the ring, where he throws up the apron cover and starts pulling out anything he can find, chairs, tables, ladders, kendo sticks, chains, water bottles, everything. One of the timekeeper's chairs is hurled over the back of Seth's head and he goes tumbling over it. Dean storms over the wreckage to grab one of the kendo sticks and brings it down on Seth over and over until it breaks. He finds another kendo stick and repeats the process until Seth is a broken tangled mess, barely five minutes into the match.

Dean sets up a table, picking Seth up and laying him down on it. The lunatic jumps onto the apron and looks to do an elbow drop before he glances around, eyes connecting with the Spanish announcers desk. Dean jumps back down, motioning to JBL to help him with the table. Dean removes the monitors from the Spanish announcers desk, throwing them aside. The two heave up the table onto the desk with the 200 pound Seth still lying on it. Dean gives JBL a grim grin and a thumbs up before taking the iconic cowboy hat and putting it on. The lunatic climbs onto the table, pulling up Seth's limp body before the Legion's 2IC counters with a punch. Seth heaves Dean up by his torso onto his shoulders before hitting a sit-out powerbomb which destroys both the table and announcers desk, leaving the two men weakly entangled with each other inside the debris.

When the uproarious "THIS IS AWESOME" chants die down, Seth's voice can be heard over one of the abandoned headsets from the announcers desk. "KEVIN," he croaks, "KEVIN!"

Kevin Owens' personal SUV pulls into the arena, coming to a stop near the ramp. He bursts out, charging down to the ring, pulling Seth out from the wreckage and heaving the man over his shoulder. Owens takes his 2IC to his car, opening the back door to lay Seth over the seat. A huge cheer from the crowd causes Owens to turn around too late as Dean dropkicks him into the door which rips off from the car, leaving The Legion leader in an unconscious heap. Dean scrambles inside the car and climbs into the front seat before taking off with a screech of the tires.

There's a good minute of dead air as Owens is out cold on the car door before there is some confused adlib from Cole, JBL and Lawler. Owens stirs, slowly getting to his feet before limping towards the nearest microphone. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOTS? ANNOUNCE THE NEXT MATCH! DON'T JUST STAND THERE COLE YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT. DO SOMETHING! TAKE SOME INITIATIVE!"

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Sasha Bank's theme hits and she walks out, taking the mic from Owens, "Since you can barely handle your own pay per view I think it's time you let a real Boss take over." She goes on to announce a Diva's match between Becky Lynch and Natalya. The rest of the Divas roster also walks out, standing around the ring as if it's a lumber match but instead of facing towards the ring, they're facing away from it. Like a shield against the entire WWE.

A farcry from the old WWE, the women put on a highly entertaining 25 minute match, keeping the audiences attention and emotional momentum from the previous match. Whenever it seems like any of the factions might intervene, the women modify formation in an extremely intimidating way with Sasha at the helm. Natalya barely goes over, putting Becky in a brutal Sharpshooter at the end of an exhausting back and forth. The two girls hug as soon as the match is over and Sasha rounds up the girls before they all walk together out of the ring, glancing symbolically to Owens who had been watching the whole thing from the top of the ramp.

"I don't know what just happened but that was great!" JBL exclaims at the elephant in the room.

A ringtone fills the arena and Cole takes out his mobile, answering it with a curious expression. Muffled rock music blares over the speakers before Rollins' voice cuts through it, "Hello? Hello?"

"This is Cole.. Seth is that you?"

"Cole?! Why are– oh it doesn't matter, look you gotta help me, I don't know where he's taking me. He's a goddamn lunatic!"

"How am I supposed to–" The phone is ripped from Cole's hands by Owens who places it to his ear.

"Seth, what landmarks are you near?"

"I'm.. I'm, uh–" There's a crackling over the line before crazed laughter of Dean can be heard in the background. "OH MY GOD," Seth screeches, "WE'RE ON A BRIDGE.. I CAN SEE THE WATER. HE'S ACTUALLY GOING TO THROW ME IN THE RIVER. KEVIN! KEV–"

The line cuts out and Owens climbs over the announcers desk to intimidate Cole to give him his car keys who fumbles to hand them over. "John, you're intelligent," Owens says to JBL, pulling out a crumpled piece of lined paper from his pocket, "You're in charge of the pay per view now." Owens jumps the timekeeps barricade and bolts out of the building.

"Uhh," JBL gulps, glancing to the paper, "I suppose then.. comin' up next is, ah… the first 'America Sucks Fatal Four-Way match'?"


	11. A Tale of Two Brothers Finale

Only Kevin Owens could book a match called the 'America Sucks Fatal-Four Way' and a shame he wasn't there to see it as he screeches down the city streets of Columbus, camera crew in the backseat filming everything.

Back at the Nationwide Arena, Neville, King Barrett, Sheamus and Cesaro go toe to toe in attempts to come out on top as the best foreign pro-wrestler in the company. Cesaro's frankly a bit pissed off that he was booked in a mid-card match, considering he's the leader of one main factions in the WWE. The match comes to a head as King Barrett eats a Red Arrow from Neville who nearly gets the three count before Cesaro breaks up the pin. Cesaro takes Neville for a spin before launching him into Barrett who was more or less an innocent bystander trying to crawl back into the ring. Cesaro sends Barrett over the top rope into ringside before contorting Neville into the Sharpshooter. Neville has no other option but to tap out, making Cesaro the first ever winner of the America Sucks match.

The titantron cuts back to footage of Owens driving in Cole's sportscar as they grind to a halt on the bridge Seth described. Owens releases a sigh of relief as he sees Seth and Dean who are still on the bridge, throwing punches at each other as each look close to collapsing. "PIN HIM, SETH," Owens roars, pushing out a referee in the passenger seat who he'd kidnapped from the parking lot. Like any Chicago Street Fight, pinfalls count anywhere, so Seth could win on the goddamn Main Street Bridge for all Owens cared.

The camera shakes as the crew get out of Cole's car, trying to get a better shot of the bridge brawl. Dean ducks a right hook from Seth, spinning around and clotheslining the Legion 2IC across the chest, onto the pavement. The goddamn Lunatic that Dean is, he begins to climb the barrier of the bridge until fully balanced on the top metal rung. He looks down to Seth, rolling his hands to signify an impending elbow drop. Seth shouts something that's too far from the camera to hear before the picture shakes and Owens yells out "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

When the camera stabilises, Seth is grabbing onto Dean's hands as if too pull him back down but Dean is shouting and trying to writhe out of his former brother's grip. Suddenly, Dean loses balance and Seth gets pulled up and over the banister before both men are sent tumbling into the Scioto River.

"SETH," Owens roars before turns to the camera, pushing the lens away from him, "GET THAT FUCKING THING AWAY FROM ME AND DO SOMETHING!". The sound of the camera hitting the ground causes the image to crackle out before the screen goes black. A couple seconds later there is a cut back to ringside with JBL, Cole and Lawler looking stunned.

The PPV continues as per Owens' instructions on the crumpled piece of paper. The next match is between Tyler Breeze and his mentor at ringside R-Truth vs Zack Ryder who arrives with the still injured Cena joining as Zack's manager on commentary. Cena puts Zack over repeatedly while slandering Damien Sandow after being questioned about the man who put him out of action. R-Truth gets pissed off at this, staunching over to have an argument with Cena. Cena retaliates and it looks like the two veterans are about to fight before Tyler is distracted by them, "Um, excuse me? Can you stop your squabbling and focus on me?" Tyler turns around only to be hit with the Rough Ryder and Zack takes the win.

The titantron cuts to a promo with Owens who has returned backstage at the PPV. Tom Phillips comes up to ask him for specific details about what happened on the Main Street Bridge. Are Seth and Dean okay? Were they found? What's going on?! Owens smacks the microphone out of Phillips' hand, calls him a 'short nerd' and proceeds to start ripping up everything backstage.

"AAAWWWWWWH KEVIN OWENS!"

For what seems to be Owens' worst nightmare, the New Day arrive to inform Owens not to be sour and to trust in the Legions soon to be three-time-champs that they will bring back Seth Rollins with their unicorn magic. If they successfully complete the task, then they need to be promised a title shot with the Primetime Players the next day on Raw. Owens looks way past the point of angry and gives in with silent loathing. "Fine."

Kofi, Big E and Xavier cheer each other on victoriously. They did it! They got the big boss to give them a title shot! Time to show the Primetimes who are the real Champions around here.

"Only if you bring Rollins back," Owens reminds them. "Go. Now."

The New Day giggle before clambering over each other and run out of frame. Owens sinks into a chair and puts his face into his hands with a muffled growl. Running a PPV is so much harder than it looks.

The PPV is on the home stretch (much to Owens' relief) as its time for the main event. Rusev defending his Intercontinental Championship in a No-DQ match against Bray Wyatt. The bought is as vicious as one would assume, with Wyatt bringing in his whole family to beat up Rusev every time he gets thrown to ringside. The Russian brute proves his name by kicking out over and over and over, despite how badly he is beaten. He was supposed to get backup after all but almost everyone in the Legion had been beaten or was MIA, either from the PPV itself or an earlier date.

With very little options left, Owens' theme hits when it seems like Rusev is close to losing the IC title but is intercepted by the Wyatts at the bottom of the ramp. Without Rollins, there is no way Owens can outmatch a three on one and is brutally beaten by the family until he's left out cold on the ramp. As Bray is about to lay down the winning pin, Bo Dallas' theme hits and he runs out with a mic, yelling "BROTHER, STOP!" The Wyatts charge up the ramp at Bo but Bray stops them by screaming for them to cease the attack. The distraction allows Rusev to low blow Bray with the Legion's flag before winning by rollup pinfall.

"BO!" Bray screams viciously as Dallas freezes up with fear before retreating backstage.

The classic Wyatt terror package flashes on the titantron and the lights go out. When they return, the Wyatts are gone. With laboured breaths, Rusev collects himself grabbing his title but leaving the flag in the ring. He exits before slinging Owens' arm over his shoulders to help the leader of the Legion of Ruination backstage.

Cole's wrapping up the PPV in the standard way before Lawler interrupts him, "Hang on, what happened to Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose?…"

"AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW COLUMBUS! DON'T YOU DARE BE SOUR, CLAP FOR YOUR SOON TO BE THREE-TIME-CHAMPS AND FEEEL THE POOWAAAAAAAARRRRRR! ITS A NEW DAY, YES IT IS!"

The New Day come out clapping admit a sea of "NEW DAY SUCKS" chants. They cut a promo on how good they are and as promised, they brought back not only Seth Rollins but Dean Ambrose and therefore they will be meeting the Primetime Players tomorrow in-ring to return the Tag Team Title back to its rightful owners. To prove to Kevin Owens that they truly are the best and most faithful members of the Legion, would everyone please turn their attention to the screen. The titantron shows a CCTV feed of the WWE's medical bay except the beds are dishevelled and empty with the med staff knocked out and sprawled across the room.

"Huh?! Where are–"

Xavier squeals and points up to nearby stage scaffolding, where Ambrose is hanging ten feet in the air with a massive grin on his face. Drenched from head to toe, Dean jumps from the scaffolding onto all three members of the New Day, knocking all of them out. Rollins runs out from backstage (also completely drenched in river water) and dropkicks Dean over the New Day. The audience goes insane which nearly blows the damn ceiling off the Nationwide Arena. The two boys brawl down to the ring where Seth powerbombs Dean onto the ring apron ala Kevin Owens. Dean is writhing on the ringside mats in pain and Seth pulls him up by his hair to roll him back into the ring.

Seth motions over John Cone ("Do your job, dumbass!") from the timekeep's area and the match is back in full swing as the Legion 2IC covers Dean, who kicks out at two and a half. Seth's furious at this point and with the last little bit of adrenaline he has left, he gets the only weapon he can find, Rusev's Legion flag and begins to wallop Dean repeatedly with it. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED DEANO?" he splutters, whacking the flagpole on Dean's head a couple times. The lunatic looks up, eyes dilated and blood seeping from his forehead, "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED? YOU WERE RIGHT. YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED ME. I USED YOU. YOU AND ROMAN. AND LOOK WHERE I AM NOW. I WAS THE CHAMP AND NOW I'M THE SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE MOST POWERFUL ORGANISATION EVER TO GRACE THE WWE. YOU ARE NOTHING." Seth blinks back tears, "NOTHING BUT A CRAZY… PSYCHOTIC–"

Dean rolls onto his back and spits in Seth's eye. The former Champ's mouth twitches in outrage, casting the flag to the side and kicking Dean in the side. The lunatic grimaces weakly as he's pushed over onto his front, back raised as he hugs in stomach in pain. Seth slowly hovers his foot just over Dean's neck. It's an ode to the time before the rebellion. How long as it been since anyone had seen Seth's curbstomp? A flicker of the architects old ways suddenly come rushing back. "Say goodbye, Deano–"

*GONG*

The lights vanish and after a moment, a spotlight illuminates the misty stage. Two figures can be seen and as the smoke begins to clear, a masked Undertaker is hunched over menacingly, face completely shrouded by his cloak. Beside him… stands Roman Reigns. Seth looks up and scampers backwards, tripping over Dean. The lunatic barely manages to slide his face to view the stage, clenching his eyes shut in regret as he sees Roman. What an idiot he'd been. Of course, Roman had come to be his saving grace. He should have just let Roman help him in the first place. 'I'm sorry' he mouths, pressing his forehead into the ringmat.

The Undertaker slowly makes his way down to the ramp and enters the ring, stepping over Dean to approach Seth, who looks spooked as hell and is backing up on his ass. Seth is begging, "Nononononono, come on, man, please don't do this, I'm sorry alright, you can have him I–"

Seth's neck is caught by a chokehold and as The Undertaker pulls the boy up, the hood falls back over his head to reveal…

"TRIPLE H?!" Seth squeaks in horror with an expression like he just soiled his ringgear. What the hell? What the hell is going on? Why is Triple H wearing the Undertakers' gear? Why is he coming out to the Undertaker's theme? Why are his eyes completely white?!

Triple H lets out a low rasp from the back of his throat, throwing off the cloak to reveal a new, Untertaker-inspired look on his ringgear. Everything about his mannerisms suggest that he is the Dead Man but it is clearly the Game wearing the mask. Triple H/Undertaker(?) shoves Seth back against the ropes where he bounces back into a hold around his middle and is turned upsidedown.

"Nonononononono!" Seth begs as Triple H slowly turns around.

The ground comes up to meet Seth as Triple H Tombstone Piledrives him, nudging his former prodigy's limp body away. The Game drag's Dean's limp body to drape his arm over Seth's shoulders. The referee slides next to the two men, thumping the mat for one.. two.. THREE!

The Game slowly stands before throwing a fist up as thunder cracks and the Undertaker's theme echoes through the arena.

Roman runs down to the ring with medical staff, not allowing anyone to help Dean onto the stretcher but himself. The PPV ends with Roman glancing back to the ring at Triple H with an anxious fear in his eyes. It's as if he's praying for validation that he did the right thing, whatever it was to get the Undertaker's puppet to save his brother.


	12. A Better Revolution Part 1

So, the power struggle between the Legion of Ruination and The Resistance continues. Meanwhile, The Free Agents' undermine each side where they see fit.

But we're forgetting someone, aren't we? A whole lot of someones in fact.

Since Triple H sold his soul to the Undertaker, the Divas seemed to fade into obscurity. They continued to have their 6 minute matches to fill and on the rare occasion, they'd get two matches but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what was happening in the ring. It's not until a promo backstage with Charlotte and Becky Lynch that things start to become more clear.

Charlotte explains her frustration that no matter what she does, she's unable to get a hold of Stephanie McMahon, the person who was supposed in charge of the Diva's Revolution. The person who's booking their matches. As someone who has the one of the most connections in the industry, she is furious at Steph's radio silence. She isn't the only one, either.

Another promo depicts Natalya intercepting a fatigued looking Steph backstage, to which the Hart gets a displeased earful. When the crazed Steph physically lashes out at Natalya for being questioned at, she is put in the Sharpshooter on instinct and three security guards are needed to pull the two apart. All the commotion causes all the Divas to come running and see what the hell is going on, Steph says she's done with the Divas and accuses all the girls for not appreciating everything she has done for them. She has her husband to worry about.

With Steph relinquishing her leadership over the Divas, there is chaos among the division, as one might expect. Charlotte quickly loses the belt as it is stolen from her during a Title Defence match against Naomi where Team B.A.D. has bribed the referee to do a fast count, giving Naomi the Championship. Team B.A.D. genuinely believes that with the title in their corner, they can make real change in the division. Unfortunately, because of their botched win for the belt, they no longer hold any respect amongst the other girls and now all the Divas are doing whatever they can to get their hands on the Championship.

On Raw, Naomi releases a statement regarding an upcoming PPV (the same where the main event ends up being Cena vs Sandow) and declares that whoever wants to challenge her for the belt would need to win in a Battle Royale right then and there. A handful of the girls run down to the ring, the majority half dressed in their ring gear and normal clothes as most assumed they wouldn't be working that night. Becky Lynch ends up winning by chance after an accidental double elimination when Charlotte clotheslines Brie Bella over the top rope and Brie drags the Flair down with her.

During the PPV before their match, a short promo is shown of Becky approaching Team B.A.D. in the locker room, warning them not to try any dirty tricks during the match. The best woman should win. According to Becky, they failed to make the division a better place like the B.A.D. faction always preached. It was time to let someone else try to make a genuine change for the Divas in the WWE. As Becky walks out of frame, Sasha stands up, looking after her with wide eyes as Tamina and Naomi glance to each other while shaking their heads at the display. Becky didn't stand a chance against the likes of them.

The title defence match arrives, slotted in somewhere in the middle of the PPV as usual. Naomi and Becky put on a 20 minute match with Becky slowly wearing down her opponent. The match comes to a head when Becky performs a move which is far more Sasha than it is from her own moveset and Naomi suddenly gets really frazzled. As if Sasha had let Becky in on a secret weakspot of Naomi. This causes the Divas Champion to panic and Becky goes over by hitting a Arm Trap Exploder Suplex before locking in the Dis-arm-her. Naomi puts up a valiant fight against it but ultimately has no choice but to tap before she near passes out and is left lying in shocked defeat in the center of the ring.

Becky eagerly takes her new Championship, quickly motioning for a microphone. "Revolution?" she pants, "Was this your idea of a Revolution? We all had an opportunity handed to us on a platter and what have we done? Bickered and undercut each other. Vile bitching that would sooner be seen in a school yard than in what I thought was supposed to be the WWE. We've been programmed to think that our worth is what can make Internet headlines and gossip." Becky suddenly whips a glance back to the ringside crew, "Where are the Divas anyway? I want to see them, someone get me a picture."

The titantron flickers to a video feed of backstage where all the Divas had been huddled to watch the match. They glance to each other, looking confused about what's happening. Naomi recovers enough to sit up, staring up at Becky in baffled awe.

"I am not a Diva," Becky proclaims, turning around and holding the Divas belt just out of Naomi's reach, "And I want you to get a good look at this, Naomi, you and everyone backstage, get a good look at this Championship- because it's the last you're ever going to see of it-"

Sasha's theme hits and Becky backs up slightly, blinking rapidly as The Boss makes her way into the ring. She helps Naomi to her feet before approaching Becky, who now seems extremely puzzled. The two stare down for a moment before Sasha lunches forward and rips the Divas Championship from Becky's grasp. Sasha slowly holds the Championship up, letting it hang in the air as she drinks in the audience's ovation. After a long moment, the smile vanishes from her face and she drops the belt, stamping on it with her foot. Becky rapidly blinks, glancing Sasha up and down before The Boss extends her hand to shake.

A truce. An agreement for a new era. A better revolution.

A smile brightens on Becky's features before she jumps past the handshake, bringing her old friend into a tight hug. Naomi continues to look on, face showing emotions of confusion, hurt and lashings of betrayal.

Sasha pulls out from the hug and pauses to glance over to the side of the stage. A small beeping truck tows out a crushing machine and parks it beside the ramp. The Boss moves back to place a comforting hand on Naomi's shoulder, stopping her from making any sudden movements as the previous Divas Champion watches in horror. Becky picks up the Divas Championship and stares at it, bringing the mic back to her mouth.

"We are not Divas. We are wrestlers. Women wrestlers. Damn good ones at that. The Divas Revolution was not empowering, it only tore us apart. Made us hate each other. We deserve to be cheered, we deserve to be loved. We've already earned respect from everyone here over and over and what do we get for it?" She holds up the belt. "A meaningless prize."

Becky throws the mic across the ring before rolling under the bottom rope and making a dash towards the ramp. She launches herself on a ladder and scampers up, one leg on the top rung while holding the Divas Championship Belt to the heavens. Slowly, she holds it over the crusher, staring into the crowd for their YES! or NO! reactions. She blinks a few times, as if about to reconsider.

"DO IT," Sasha yells into the mic from the ring before Naomi grabs it from her.

"WAIT!"

The Divas belt is dropped and a bone-chilling crunch of metal and leather is heard as the destruction of the Divas division is broadcast live to the WWE Network.

"NO!" Nikki screams from backstage, Alicia Fox and Brie having to hold her back as she tries to fight back before slumping into submission. Natalya stares at the live feed with wide eyes and an ajar mouth before she sits back into her seat in bewilderment. Paige's reaction is far more volatile as she hurls a plastic chair across the room which slams loudly into one of the lockers. Tamina, who seems unbeknownst to the ruckas around her, is expressionless for a long moment before a huge smile breaks out from ear to ear. She turns around to look at Charlotte, who's crying in shock and happiness.

"The Divas Revolution is over..." Sasha proclaims on the mic, turning to face the audience in the center of the ring, "The Age of Womens Wrestling is here. There will be a new faction, one that supports all our dreams. A platform in which we are respected, where we are placed on the pedestal we deserve to be. We've been cutting our teeth for years now and we're still treated as space fillers in this company. Not anymore. We are strong. We are talented. We are main eventers. There will be a new Championship, a prestigious prize and we will compete for it. The best wrestler will have the privilege to wear it around their waist." She swings around, looking up to the titantron with a smirk to address the rest of the locker room.

"Join me and demand the respect you've worked so hard for... or leave. There is no other option anymore. The Divas are bankrupt."


	13. A Better Revolution Part 2

The Divas Championship is destroyed. Becky and Sasha made their ultimatum clear: join the new Women's Wrestling movement or go home. Perhaps it was to be expected after such a brash decision but all the previous Divas didn't share the same delight in this new new revolution. Tamina, Charlotte and Natalya are immediately on board while the rest of the girls either have mixed feelings or flat out do not support the movement.

After all, the Divas belt was not the "meaningless prize" Becky had slandered it as to some. To Nikki, Brie, Naomi, Fox, even Paige, the Divas Championship was a highly sought after prize. It was validation of their tireless efforts in division that was otherwise looked over or down upon. Just removing it and replacing it with a new belt didn't guarantee an immediate increase of respect from their peers or the WWE Universe. At least the Divas belt had a history and legitimacy. Sasha and Becky couldn't be making executive decisions like that on behalf of everyone.

Because of all this, a rift forms in the womens divison. Most matches involve those against the new movement challenging those for it, in an effort to prove that the Divas Championship should have an opportunity to be reconsidered Ultimately the Women's Wrestling movement manages to pull ahead and that success funds the concept and creation of the new women's title.

A segment is set in Raw for the new belt to make its debut and all supporters of the women's movement in attendance. The new belt sits under a cover of red material while a ribbon is tied from the ring ropes, ready to be cut in celebration. There is champagne and all the girls are dressed to the nines, it really does feel like a genuinely monumental event. Sasha gets on the mic to officially instate the new division, the 'United Womens Alliance'. As she prepares to reveal the new title and cut the ribbon a low British drawl cuts through the celebration.

"Don't mean to break up your little paaarty~"

The girls look on in horror as Adam Rose of all people saunters out, talking about how much the girls are kidding themselves and that their little faux belt isn't going to impress anyone. Why was he there? He had no business with the women! It turns out he only came out to proudly introduce The Legion of Ruination's newest member.

Nikki Bella's theme hits and she walks out garbed in black, white and silver. She adjusts a snapback with the Legion logo embroidered on the front. Over her shoulder, a black and silver softball bat. Adam passes her the mic with a smirk and she gives him a small cheek to cheek kiss to thank him.

"Sasha, Sasha, Sasha… I'm sure you'd love to know why I'm here.. dressed like this. You thought you could make the Divas an offer they couldn't refuse but you were wrong. You're a bully. You tried to change who I am. I am a Diva and I am proud of it. I fought for that title with all I had. I was the longest reigning Divas Champion of all time. I tried to reason with you but you've pushed me too far. I'm sorry Brie, but I have to take matters in my own hands.. for all of us."

Nikki charges down the ramp with Adam trailing behind. Charlotte ducks sidewards and rolls out of the ring before rounding the steel steps and spearing Rose. Nikki rolls into the ring and smashes the bat into Nattie's side before attacking Becky. Tamina jumps in front to protect Sasha, catching the bat in her hand. Nikki panics for a split-second before twisting up Tamina's arm with the bat and executing a perfect snapmare knee attack before ripping the bat from the Samoan's hands, who weakly rolls out of the ring.

Sasha is now all alone in the ring and she glances behind Nikki to see Charlotte running for the apron but Adam Rose trips her up, grabbing her legs and putting her into a Boston Crab. Charlotte screams and Tamina finds a burst of energy from ringside to get up and tackle Rose to break it up. The girls and Adam are strewn around ringside and Sasha has no way out. The Boss ducks a swing of the bat from Nikki and the two get into an impromptu fight. Ultimately, Nikki catches Sasha in the spine with the softball bat before Rack Attacking her.

Nikki pulls off the ribbon and knocks over the table where the hidden belt is perched. She recovers the United Women's Alliance Championship from under the red material. The title is a sleek navy leather with the front plate in the subtle shape of a bow. A large round pendant sits in the center which reflects light in a multicoloured shimmer. The side plates are circular, reminiscent of coins with profiles of notable Women's Wrestlers from WWF history. Nikki glances the title over, pausing with an expression as if she feels guilty for actually liking the design before shaking her head out of it. She jumps onto the turnbuckle and holds up the belt in an act of defiance before tossing it back down into the middle of the ring as if it's worthless.

Nikki jumps down and picks up the softball bat, swinging it leisurely before holding it up above her head as Sasha watches on helplessly. Brie Bella's theme hits and the remaining girls run out. Fox, Naomi and Paige weren't happy about the Divas Championship being destroyed but Nikki's 'if-I-can't-have-it-noone-can' mentality was on course to undermine the entire women's division for good.

Not that the new Legion darling seems to care. Nikki brings the metal bat down onto the UWA belt's plaque, effectively destroying the belt before it even had a change to be fought for. Sasha screams for her to stop but Nikki swings the bat backwards, (accidentally?) hitting The Boss in the face. Nikki stares at her, chest rising and falling with laborious breaths before casting the bat aside and making her way out of the ring. She literally steps on Charlotte's middle as she walks up the ramp and the remaining girls quickly part ways for her.

In one fell strike of her bat, it seemed that Nikki had destroyed the women's division single-handedly. The Boss wasn't going to take such defiance sitting down. With a large bandage over her nose, Sasha went hard at work to restore the UWA's reputation before it could be slandered any further. She was told it would be a few weeks before the belt would be repaired, just in time for the next pay per view. In the meantime, she's determined to have Nikki's head on a spike. If Sasha could just make an example of her…

Many of the UWA's plans fall through as they try to ambush Nikki. The Legion knows the Bella is a commodity and fiercely protects her. She even starts coming out with random members of the Legion, occasionally attacking wrestlers at ringside or when the ref is distracted to give her boys an advantage.

In reality, all the UWA wants is ten minutes with Nikki. Despite earlier wanting her blood, Sasha comes to realise that she was more frustrated because her plan for the women's division was misinterpreted by Nikki. A fault that's entirely her own. Sasha's dream is to have every single woman united under one banner and and a space still exists for Nikki, if she sets aside her differences. Sasha's certain if she can get a ten minute audience with her, The Boss will be able to convince the Bella to give the UWA a chance.

So the UWA starts sneakily attacking the Legion wherever they can. They steal ringgear from the Legion's locker room, they pay out the ref to give the opposing side an advantage, three will hide under the ring and pull down the feet of King Barrett or Rusev and force a count-out loss. The UWA becomes that annoying fly that won't go away unless they get what they want. KO finally caves and makes a deal ("If it will make you all stop acting like such divas then fine."). If they can win in a mixed tag team match against Nikki and Seth Rollins with a UWA member of their choice and a male partner, if they can find one, then Sasha can get an audience with Nikki.

The anticipated match is set for the main event of the next Raw and there is a lot of theories about who both the UWA challenger and male partner will be. Unfortunately Sasha's out as her face and back need time to recover so it's all very up in the air with possibilities. In all promos, you can see the girls in the background talking to all sorts of potential candidates, Charlotte's in cohorts with Ryback, Naomi is chatting to Randy Orton, Alicia Fox discusses plans with Tyler Breeze, Paige talks to Darren Young, there's even a whole promo dedicated to Becky as she finds Cesaro in the locker room to ask him about what he thinks about the UWA and their upcoming match.

Raw arrives and the main event can't come fast enough. Nikki and Seth's themes hit first and they make their ways to the ring to prepare. Oddly, Kevin Owens is nowhere to be seen. The Legion competitors look extremely confident so perhaps they assume that any pairing is going to be an easy job. Perhaps they have a dirty plan. It wouldn't be surprising.

"And their challengers…"

The audience is impatient as the whole arena rattles, waiting for who the challengers are going to be. In a surprising but, in hindsight, fitting reveal, "Brie Mode!" choruses through the arena and the Bella twin steps onto the stage to lock eyes with her sister in the ring. Nikki rolls her eyes. She should have seen it coming. Of course Brie would nominate herself with an opportunity to try and knock some sense into her loose cannon of a sister. Nikki would be sure Brie wouldn't be able to see that plan through.

As the arena yells a dozen conflicting chants, Brie's partner's theme hits and all the blood strips away from Seth's face as the WWE Universe goes fucking insane.

A huge grin beams from ear to ear on Brie as an angelic vibrato of violins lights up the arena before descending into a triumphant, inspiring guitar riff.

"SHIT," Seth yells, voice indistinguishable against the thundering chants of 'YES! YES! YES!' in the arena.


	14. A Better Revolution Finale

" **YES! YES! YES! YES!** "

Well this was turning out to be a downright horrible day for Seth.

Would any other returning superstars like to pledge allegiance to absolutely every other faction but the Legion of Ruination?! Daniel Bryan didn't even have the right body parts to align with the United Women's Alliance! They're cheating. Surely! Seth grimaces at the ecofriendly lovebirds, leaning over to growl at Nikki that he and Owens would need to have a long chat about the faction's future direction after tonight.

Nikki's distracted as she stares down Brie and her husband from the Legion's turnbuckle as they enter the ring. After a stunned moment, Nikki smacks Seth across the chest, ordering him to focus. Seth does what he's told, bouncing on the apron to psyche himself up before sliding into the ring, watching Bryan walk towards him with a hungry smile.

The bell rings and two men lock up so ferociously it sends shockwaves throughout the arena. Seth ducks around and hooks his arm under Bryan to try and put him away early. Revitalised from his time off and without time to humour Seth with his underhanded tricks, Bryan kicks out. They get into a back and forth, exchanging punches and kicks before Seth gets agitated, ending the rally to bounce off the ropes as Bryan catches him with a hip toss. Seth sits up, only to eat a succession of rapid kicks to the chants of 'YES!'. As Bryan reels his knee back for the final kick, Seth pops up to easily lift the smaller man on his shoulders and hits a turnbuckle powerbomb.

With Bryan in the Legion's corner, Seth holds his hand up and Nikki eagerly makes the tag. She ducks into the ring and crouches in front of Bryan with an unhinged grin on her lips. Bryan, not realising a tag was made, looks to retaliate but catches his fist before hitting Nikki. The Bella goads her brother-in-law before planting a thundering slap across his face. Bryan's fist trembles and squeezes his eyes shut to shakily inhale, suppressing his anger. He stands, shouldering past a smug Nikki to tag in his wife.

Brie is beyond furious, storming into the ring and aggressively attacks her sister with a Thez Press, punching her repeatedly until Nikki manages to throw her off. The two get into a surprisingly brutal back and forth with neither sister holding back like many had anticipated. It seemed like the Bellas had possibly matured past their petty rivalries but any who mirrored that opinion were being proven very wrong. For two girls who usually were so conscious about their stage presence, all had been thrown out the window and it seemed like they were genuinely trying to inflict pain on each other. When Brie starts getting hot, Nikki cools her off, ducking and backing up to her corner, allowing Seth to tag in.

Seth slithers into the ring to a chorus of boos, staying close to his corner and waiting for Brie to assumedly return to tag Bryan in. Infuriated, Brie shakes her head, advancing on Seth. "Tag her back in!" she yells, pointing to Nikki, "This is our fight, not yours. This is _our match_!". Seth doesn't take his eyes off Brie for a long moment before sighing, making a slow turn as if to make a tag. He suddenly swivels back to hook Brie and hit a reverse STO into the turnbuckle. Brie's head bounces off the buckle before she slumps onto the ringmat and weakly rolls out of the ring, limply falling off the apron.

Nikki stares at Seth in disbelief. Even she believes he's gone too far. Bryan immediately storms the ring and Seth turns around to eat a flying knee strike which tangles them both up in the ropes. Bryan shoves Seth's contorted body off him before using the ropes to pull himself to a stand. He glares at a conflicted Nikki before campaigning to her about how much of a mistake aligning with the Legion is.

Unhappy with being lectured at, Nikki tells Bryan to shut his goddamn mouth and reels a fist back to punch him. Before she can, Seth has used the time from their argument to recover and delivers a low blow to Bryan while the referee is distracted, calling for medical staff to check on Brie. Bryan falls back and Seth grabs his ankles before seating his opponent on the top turnbuckle. Bryan finds a little strength to fight back, throwing a few weak punches in attempt to halt Seth's offence. Seth elbows Bryan in the face, who slumps forward and Seth turns him over so he's hanging upside-down, back against the turnbuckles. He gives a smug eyebrow wag to a disturbed Nikki as if to say 'watch this'.

Brie pushes away the meds to stumble to her feet ringside and runs to the apron, grabbing Bryan's arm. She attemps and drag him off the turnbuckle as Seth climbs on the top rope. Nikki frantically glances between her sister and Seth and, on instinct, hits an apron somersault plancha onto Brie and the medical staff, causing a mess of human bodies outside the ring. Seth slowly raises up from a crouched position before jumping to hit a double foot stomp to Bryan. He police rolls to a stand and drink in the boos from the audience with a smarmy grin from ear to ear.

"That's right, that's right!" Seth yells to anyone who will listen, "The Legion of Runation are the greatest faction the WWE has ever seen! We have conquered any and every who try stand in our way." He walks back towards Bryan, "Where have you been all these months Goat Man? You can't just walk back in here. Times have changed! You don't know what we're capable of. YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE COME BACK."

Seth starts kicking Bryan's limp body around, hitting him with some insulting slaps across the face and to the back of the head. All the attention in ring has distracted from the two girls at ringside, where Brie has stumbled across a second wind. "YOU'RE WRONG!" she yells, climbing onto the ring apron to glare up at Seth, "You've been so busy gloating in your own success, you don't even know what's been developing in the shadows behind your back!"

Nikki charges at Brie but is scouted, Brie moving out of the way as her sister's head bounces off the apron. Nikki collapses backwards to clutch her face in pain. Brie rolls into the ring, runs to bounce off the ropes and attempts a flying clothesline at Seth. Seth easily catches Brie and pauses to smirk and shake his head. Silly silly girl.

Brie flashes a small smirk of her own before countering with a tornado DDT which sends a shocked Seth rolling out of the ring. He slumps beside Nikki, also clutching his head. Brie scrambles to her feet and kneels beside her husband, who's starting to come to again. She gives him few quiet words of support which seem to inspire strength into the leader of the Yes! Movement. She helps Bryan up and he pulls her into a fierce hug to roaring cheers of the crowd. They pull out to stare lovingly at each other before glancing out of the ring in synchronisation to Seth and Nikki who have both sorrily helped themselves to their feet.

Bryan and Brie look back at each other, give a grinning nod before turning to run at the back ropes, bouncing off and charging for a perfect double suicide dive. Cheers erupt as Brie and Bryan get to their feet, pulling up their opponents and rolling them back into the ring. As Brie is still the legal woman, Bryan returns to his corner, pumping up the crowd with uproarious YES! chants.

"Fuck this," Seth disapproves, wearily shaking his head and tagging Nikki on the shoulder, "It's your family, you deal with this."

Nikki glares at Seth as if she's been betrayed before sighing angrily through her nose and sliding into the ring. "It's over Brie," she growls, trying to project over the annoyingly loud audience, "You can't win. I'll always be the better sister. I was and forever will be the longest reigning Diva's Champion."

"And you could be the longest reigning UWA Champion," Brie yells back, "Don't you want to be part of the revolution?"

"I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF ANY REVOLUTION, I WAS HAPPY, BRIE. I WAS SATISFIED. Don't you get it?! Why was being a Diva such a negative thing? We could have elevated it to the highest tier. We don't need a new title to prove that!"

Nikki acts on her anger, charging Brie and hoisting her up over her shoulders for a Rack Attack. Brie struggles before wriggling off, running Nikki forward against the ropes before hitting a snap suplex. Nikki tumbles backwards, coming to a stop on her knees in the middle of the ring. Brie springs to her feet, taking a few steps back to stretch her arms out to roar, "BRIE MODE!"

Brie runs forward and strikes the kneeling Nikki across the chest with rapid kicks. "YES!… YES!… YES!… YES!" As Brie goes to deliver the final kick, Nikki grabs her leg and twists her sister into an abdominal stretch with chinlock. Brie grunts in pain, hands tensing away from the mat.

"TAP!" Nikki screams as Brie tries to furiously shake her head, pain written across her features, "JUST TAP!"

"NO!" Bryan encourages from his corner, slicing his hands in front of him.

Tears of agony soak Brie's eyes. Nikki should have pulled something new out of the bag. Brie knew the submission hold well and how she might be able to get herself out of it. Brie pants her feet, shakily raising her middle into a bridge, transferring some pressure to Nikki. She keeps forcing Nikki backwards before her feet lift off the floor and Nikki's shoulders press against the mat under the weight of Brie. The ref slams on the ringmat for a count, forcing Nikki to kick out and break the hold. Brie scurries back into her corner finding a moment to recover, massaging her jaw.

Nikki crawls to the Legion's corner, leaping for a hot tag but finds herself falling flat on her face.

Seth jumps back off the apron, holding his hands up in defeat. "I didn't sign up for this," he concedes, "I don't want to be a part of this drama."

Nikki stares at Seth in horror, using the ropes to pull herself to her feet. Everything she's done for the Legion and THIS is how they repay her?! Fine. She didn't need the weasel's help.

Fuming, Nikki turns and blindly charges to take her anger out on Brie in any way possible, not seeing that her sister had climbed to the second rope to prepare her finisher. "BRIE MODE!" Nikki eats a missile dropkick and is rolled up as the ref counts 1..

2...

3!

Nikki kicks out a half-second too late and stares out in horror as Brie's music fills the arena victoriously. She covers her ears from the YES! chants, curling up to press her forehead against the ringmat in exasperation.

Finally, one for the good guys. A massive win to put the United Women's Alliance on the map. To show the rest of the WWE the new faction is not to be taken lightly.

Bryan runs into the ring to crash into Brie for a tight hug, the ref needing to peel them apart to hold up their arms in victory. Sasha Banks' theme pours through the arena and she walks out, flanked by the entirety of the UWA. Over her shoulder is the repaired UWA Championship in all its glory. Sasha isn't the Champion but she can't help but feel a special connection to the once battered belt.

Brie and Bryan make their way up the ramp to a welcome ovation by the UWA. Alicia bursts forward to hug both of them before all the girls crowd around in celebration.

The victory hugs are cut short at Kevin Owens runs out, pushing through the girls on stage and intercepting Seth on the ramp, who's grumbling to himself. "What the hell happened?!" Owens demands, "What's going on?" Seth grimaces and shoulders past Owens, who shakes his head in confused disbelief.

At this point Nikki has gotten to her feet and rolls out of the ring, with no effort to walk briskly as she'll have to walk past a no doubt gloating parade of UWA girls. She procrastinates by retrieving her black and silver Legion snapback from the announcers desk and drags her feet towards the ramp, where Owens is standing. Face red with humiliation, Nikki comes to a stop in front of the WWHC Champion, staring at the snapback in her hands. After a few deep breaths, she closes her eyes and slams the hat against Owens' chest. "We're done," she says.

Nikki sidesteps past Owens and gathers her courage to walk up the remainder of the ramp. The UWA falls silent, all eyes on Nikki as Sasha steps forward, halting the other girl in her tracks. She supposed the ten minutes Sasha wanted with her was going to be put on display for the entire Universe to see. Nikki stares Sasha down, though she looks as though she's compensating for the fear in her heart. Sasha extends a hand. Nikki blinks a few times, glancing at the hand in surprise.

"It's not a United Women's Alliance if we're not united," Sasha smiles sternly.

After a pause, Nikki takes Sasha's handshake gratefully, giving a small regretful nod over her actions with the legion. It's clear Sasha doesn't trust Nikki but the Bella is out of other viable options. As Nikki takes her hand back, she instead places it on the UWA belt over Sasha's shoulder. Nikki gives Sasha a look to say 'enjoy it while it lasts' before walking backstage, avoiding eye contact with the other girls.

Sasha retrieves her microphone, offering Owens a pleased smile as she strolls down to meet him halfway up the ramp. "Aww, that's too bad," she purrs, "The Legion certainly has made a habit of _losing_ lately- don't you think?"

Owens' stares back at her with deadpan eyes, if she thinks she can intimidate him…

"Well.. I'm going to make sure you don't break the habit so soon." Sasha hooks her index finger under the WWHC title, gently curving the leather upwards before it slips back against Owens' chest. Sasha lets the microphone slide out of her hand before adjusting her BOSS necklace as her theme hits.

The UWA make their exit and Owens is left alone on the ramp, staring incredulously as Sasha saunters away.


	15. Exchanges of Power Part 1

If anyone thought it was a little odd that Dolph Zigger was aligned with The Resistance then they'd be on the money. The Free Agents surely would have been Ziggler's first choice if he had been paying attention the night The Authority made their ultimatum to the company moments before forming the Neo Authority.

When Stephanie and Triple H said "you either stand with us, or against us" and the factions of the Rebellion Era were formed, the Showoff was glued to his iPhone, flirting with fans on his Twitter. He absentmindedly followed whoever was standing in front of him and the only thing to pull him from his social media distraction was Ryback giving him a hearty slap on the back and saying that he made the right choice.

Choice?

It takes a while for Ziggler to realise the monumental changes that had been made to the WWE while he wasn't paying attention and that makes him sick to his stomach. For the first few weeks he kept to himself and contemplated crossing the border in the middle of the night to join The Free Agents. However, as he watched from outside the limelight, he saw Cesaro's boys become exceptionally violent as The Legion continued with their own agenda, steamrolling through any and every who opposed them. After some thought, Ziggler decided it might be better to keep his head low and let everything sort itself out.

Only, everything didn't sort itself out.

Ziggler finds himself in an odd limbo. He fought on command for The Resistance while simultaneously not always agreeing with their methods of "bringing normality" back to the WWE. Sure they went about things more righteously compared to the other factions by comparison but it felt like they were stomping out small embers on sticks while the whole goddamn forest was on fire.

Weeks passed and Ziggler felt increasingly at odds over his purpose in the company. The Legion threat wasn't slowing down, The Free Agents were building a serious faction and the Divas Division didn't even exist anymore. His schtick, "The Show Off", didn't really have a place in this new WWE. The solid foundation of his personality and what made him Dolph Ziggler began to slip through his fingers and he panicked, compensating by being extra facetious, extra flirtatious, extra vociferous.

With the void that was his sense of self, Ziggler craved a partnership to take his mind off things. Worrying about someone else's problems for a little while would be a nice little vacation from his own anxiety. Only, there weren't many people in The Resistance he had much in common with. If Zack Ryder didn't have his head shoved so far up Cena's ass, Ziggler might have had someone to party with. As he took mental note of who else was in his faction, he struggled to find any attractive names that jumped out at him.

Before a Smackdown, The Resistance are huddled in their budget locker room for a pre-show meeting. In reality, it is actually a bordered off section of a hallway (all the other factions get the nice locker rooms). Roman and Dean are going over their plan for the night and a need arises for a tag team because The Miz and Bo Dallas have been trying to get interviews (see: probe for information) with anyone they can get there hands on. The Dudleyz are taking a well deserved night off and the Lucha Dragons already need to hold down the fort against other established tag teams. Neville puts his hand up and suggests him and Dolph team up. They've proven to have good teamwork, a long time ago they partnered for a small while against the likes of Sheamus and King Barrett.

Dolph agrees, offering a tongue-in-cheek reply to mask his frustration. Neville was nice and all but Ziggler always found him incredibly frustrating in a way he could never put his finger on. Something about the kid's boundless optimism and he was almost certain Neville worshipped him for helping him out the few weeks after his debut. Ziggler didn't have the heart to tell Neville he was offered a bonus with his next paycheck if he showed the newcomer the ropes. It had been well over a year since that time, perhaps Neville had matured a bit.

To Ziggler's genuine surprise, the two of them beat Miz and Bo real easily and he's reminded of the in-ring chemistry he has with Neville from all those months ago. In a post match promo Ziggler comments how the kid has improved a hell of a lot from over a year ago. Neville, who once praised Dolph and said he would always thank him and never stop, seems silently offended that Ziggler is still treating him like a rookie. "Thanks Dolph," he says finally, tone firm, before walking off.

Neville avoids Ziggler from that night on and three weeks go by as Dolph realises he might have pissed off the only reliable ally he has in The Resistance. Instead of apologising to Nevile, Dolph instead distracts himself by challenging Kevin Owens for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Most would say he's crazy but at this point he's so out of touch with who he was, he's desperate to own something of worth again- even if it's for the last time.

Owens repeatedly turns down Ziggler's challenges, saying the Show Off isn't even on his level to deserve a title shot. Ziggler keeps pestering Owens until the Legion leader orders Sheamus and Barrett to deal with Ziggler, making it extremely difficult for him to get close to the WWHC.

Meanwhile, The Neo Authority's control over Dean and Roman begins to waver. Cracks form in The Resistance when Dean betrays Roman over a chance to exact revenge on Seth, essentially abandoning their faction. As Roman panics, doubt spreads within The Resistance whether he's fit to lead. The Neo Authority turn damage control on, trying their best to quell fears and instill faith into the cause.

The tables turn after Owens' PPV backfires on him where the Legion leader not only goes through a car door but gets beaten to a pulp by the Wyatts. Ziggler figures his time to strike is Raw the next night. As he is backstage, waiting for Owens to make his way in ring, Ziggler is approached by Sasha Banks who says that she can get him a WWHC title match that night. Dolph is confused but figures he has nothing to lose. Agreeing that he owes the UWA one, Ziggler signs a contract for a title match.

Owens enters the ring to introduce Raw for the night, pretending the PPV from the night before didn't even happen. He is flanked by Seth Rollins who has a bandage around his head after a devastating tombstone from The Undertaker. Despite his injuries, Owens maintains that the Legion has never been stronger and that it doesn't matter who's side The Undertaker is on. Sasha Banks' theme hits and Owens looks positively miffed, having had a lot of trouble with the UWA since its creation.

"What now," Owens growls over the mic, "Don't you have a womens championship to be avenging?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Owens," Sasha smirks from the stage, holding a clipboard close to her chest, "I only wanted to come out to inform you of your title match tonight."

"Title match?!" Kevin roars, "There is no title match unless I say so!"

"Oh no, no, no~ See, Mr. Owens," she opens up the clipboard to show the audience, "You already signed the contract last night? So tonight, in the main event, you will be facing Dolph Ziggler for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and all your little Legion friends are barred from ringside."

"What are you talking about?!" Seth jeers, voice picking up from Owens' mic, "You have no right.. You have no right!"

Sasha bows her head to laugh, "But Seth, I have _every_ right and I'll show you why…"

She turns to look up to the titantron, which shows footage of Owens in a stretcher from the night before being rushed towards an ambulance. "Kevin!" Sasha's voice can be heard behind the camera before she appears, running to catch up with the stretcher, "Kevin!"

Owens weakly reaches out and grasps Sasha's hand, "Why did I do that?" he slurs, seeming to be heavily drugged on painkillers, "I hate organising things, why… Why did I-"

"Why don't you let me run things?" Sasha pauses before asking, a smile growing on her lips as she pulls out a waiver and a pen.

"Sure.. whatever," Kevin mumbles, taking the pen and scribbling on the dotted line, "You deal with this bullshit."

The camera cuts back to Raw, showing Owens and Seth with their mouths agape. "Nononononononono," Seth yells, grabbing his partner's mic, "What have you done, Sasha?!"

"That's _General Manager Banks_ to you, Mr. Rollins," Sasha snaps back before relaxing, a smile returning to her lips, "Yes, you heard that right. Last night, Mr. Kevin Owens, leader of the Leigon of Ruination, signed over all WWE operating rights to _me._ "

"I WAS DRUGGED," Owens screams over the mic, "You can't do that- it's ILLEGAL!" He takes a few steps forward but is forced to hunch over by the weight of his injuries. Seth runs forward to help support him and they both stare up to the stage flabbergasted.

Sasha clicks her tongue, "Actually.. you weren't. The paramedics didn't inject any painkillers into your system until after you had entered the ambulance." She pulls out a piece of paper, "I have witnesses to sign off on it." A shadow casts over her eyes as the smile returns, "No, Mr. Owens, you, in sound of mind, willingly handed over power of the company to me and there's nothing you can do about it. I am _The Boss_ of WWE and I have finally taken over." She turns to walk backstage because pausing and throws a wink over her shoulder, "Enjoy your match tonight, Mr. Owens."

To be continued...


End file.
